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EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2011

Sport and sexual harassment

The arrest of two-time Olympic judo champion Masato Uchishiba on suspicion of raping a female member of a judo team for which he served as a coach has come as a shock to judo fans and the sports world in general. But sport as a whole needs to examine whether it does not have a culture susceptible to...
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2011

Power industry buying influence

Reports on political donations for 2010 made public Nov. 30 by the internal affairs ministry show that both management and labor unions of the power industry provided a large amount of money to both the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party. It is logical to suspect that the power...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 13, 2011

Real cause of nuclear crisis

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Station, has been insisting that the culprit that caused the nuclear crisis was the huge tsunami that hit the plant after the March 11 earthquake. But evidence is mounting that the meltdown at the nuclear power...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 11, 2011

Japanese 'good-for-nothings' heart Bhutan

Japan is in love — with Bhutan, a supposed Shangri-La of a country nestled in the Himalayas, famous for deemphasizing gross domestic product (GDP, the standard measure of well-being) in favor of a more abstract, possibly more human metric known as gross national happiness (GNH).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 11, 2011

Chilling out in a warm Kume Island way

The first thing a good beach does is immediately make you want to take your watch off. But what makes a really great beach is when you do that — and then kick off your shoes as well. That's exactly what I did when I arrived at Eef Beach on Kume Island, Okinawa.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2011

It takes a supersize brain to drive a London taxi

Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Dec 10, 2011

Hamamatsu's Dixon recognized for leadership as team climbs in standings

With floor leader Jermaine Dixon providing inspired, smart leadership, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix rediscovered their mojo in November, winning seven of their eight bj-league games.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 10, 2011

CL exit exposes Man United's flaws

Three weeks ago, Sir Alex Ferguson walked out of a UEFA news conference when he was asked a question by a reporter that began: "With the two best teams in the Premier League struggling in Europe. . . "
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2011

Sales of Sharp LCD TVs to soar in U.S.

Sharp Corp. said Thursday it expects to sell more than 1 million large LCD TVs in North America in the business year to March, about five times more than last year as demand surges in the U.S. market.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2011

No guarantee Japan yields will stay low, Ishida says

Europe's sovereign-debt crisis is a reminder that Japan can't expect to continue funding its public debt with "low" borrowing costs, Bank of Japan Policy Board member Koji Ishida said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2011

Putin afflicted by Brezhnev syndrome

The winner of Sunday's legislative election in Russia was a foregone conclusion: United Russia, organized by Vladimir Putin. Likewise, there is no doubt that Putin himself will win the presidential election due in March 2012. But the public enthusiasm that ratified Putin's rule for a decade has vanished,...
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2011

Bribed lawmaker Muneo Suzuki out on parole

Muneo Suzuki was paroled Tuesday after spending a year in prison for accepting ¥11 million in bribes and committing other offenses while serving as a Diet member.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2011

Owners bet on Tohoku revival, restart businesses along coast

The day Masahiro Osada reopened his Chinese restaurant, the mayor showed up for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 6, 2011

Comic anthologies offer visions of hope after 3/11

In the wake of March 11, artists, writers, letterers and colorists based in Japan and across the globe have been hard at work crafting stories and images of solidarity, concern and, above all, hope for two fundraising books: "Spirit of Hope" and "Aftershock: Artists Respond to Disaster in Japan."
COMMENTARY / World / 50 years of ASEAN
Dec 5, 2011

China: soft or crash landing?

Economists who believe that China can come to the rescue of an increasingly troubled global economy are now in a decided minority, with questions increasingly being asked whether China can save itself: Will China's economy achieve a soft landing, a hard landing or even suffer a crash landing?
CULTURE / Books
Dec 4, 2011

Global challenge of the big sell

THE DENTSU WAY, by Kotaro Sugiyama and Tim Andree. McGraw Hill, 2011, 310 pp., $28 (hardcover) Founded in 1901, Dentsu Inc.'s success in becoming Japan's top advertising agency, and the world's fifth-largest, reflects the nation's development from a sheltered, rural-based economy to an international...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 4, 2011

Red Sox manager Valentine should be right at home in return to MLB

So, Bobby Valentine will be the new manager of the Boston Red Sox. Surprised? Not me. The now 61-year-old former skipper of the Texas Rangers, New York Mets and Chiba Lotte Marines said a few years ago while still working in Japan, "I plan to be in uniform until I'm 70 years old."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2011

Iran ups the stakes with West

As the West ratchets up its economic pressure on Iran to halt its alleged drive to develop nuclear weapons, the Islamic Republic's rulers are not sitting idly by.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 3, 2011

Chelsea's season in jeopardy

Roman Abramovich is unlikely to have been particularly bothered by Chelsea's exit from the Carling Cup at the hands of Liverpool. The competition remains fourth on the list of Stamford Bridge priorities, but elimination next week from the Champions League, the Russian's Holy Grail, could see the twitchiest...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 2, 2011

Asao, Uchikawa win league MVP awards

Chunichi Dragons reliever Takuya Asao and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks outfielder Seiichi Uchikawa had the same reaction to being named MVP of their respective leagues.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers